


Good Luck! (2006)

by JennyB



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Community: 60_minute_fics, Fluff, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-02
Updated: 2006-06-02
Packaged: 2018-02-06 14:06:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1860789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JennyB/pseuds/JennyB
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s Friday the 13th – Joey Wheeler’s most hated day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Luck! (2006)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the LJ community 60_minute_fics

Joey Wheeler hated Friday the Thirteenth. Not the movie. The adventures of Jason Voorhees and the buxom, blonde, bubble-headed camp counsellors were pure comedic gold in his opinion. No, Joey had a hate-hate relationship with the physical day. It was like an epic battle of wits between him and some unseen bad luck demon. The creature would do its damnedest to make his life a living hell for those twenty-four hours, and in return, Joey would amass every magic talisman and good luck charm he could lay his hands on in the hopes of warding off the evil little gremlins hell-bent on ruining his life.

This particular Friday the Thirteenth was starting out in true form. Sometime during the night, one of his flailing limbs had tugged the cord on his alarm clock, pulling the plug from the socket. As a result, he had awoken not at 7:00, as he had planned, but at 8:15 to his best friend Tristan pounding on the door to collect him for school.

“Shit!” the blond exclaimed when he glanced first at the blank display, and then at his watch. Bounding out of bed, he hurriedly admitted the fin-haired brunet, and then raced back to his room, haphazardly throwing on his uniform and finger-combing his hair out of his face. Unable to find a clean pair of socks, he jammed his sneakers onto his feet and grabbed his backpack. _‘Score_!’ he thought, as he saw that he’d managed to dress in under five minutes. And not garner any serious injury in the process. Not wanting to further tempt fate, he grabbed the lucky rabbit’s foot from his desk and jammed it in his pocket, and ran out to meet Honda.

On the way to school, he narrowly avoided having his path crossed by a black cat; however, in his zeal to avoid more bad luck, he bumped into a construction scaffold that had been erected for some window washers, giving a shrill yelp when the bucket of water fell from the edge and thoroughly drenched the blond in cold, soapy water. _Fortunately_ the bucket had been tied off to a rope – a small consolation as far as Joey was concerned. At least with the bucket, he would have earned some sympathy for his injuries. Not the peals of laughter that were currently coming from his supposed ‘best friend’. He scowled. Already, he could hear the jeering comments from his other peers that he _didn’t_ associate with. Glaring at the stocky brunet, and then giving him a hard jab in the ribs with his elbow to shut him up, the two continued on to school.

He earned another round of giggles from Yugi and Téa when he arrived at the school, and other than a snarky comment from Kaiba, the morning passed without further incident.

* * *

He and his friends decided to take their lunch outside that day, since the sky was clear and the impending spring weather beckoned to them like a siren’s song. Joey made certain to avoid stepping on all of the cracks in the sidewalk as they walked over to a small grove of trees, and when they sat down, Jou ignored his lunch and began picking through the small patch of clover that sat at his feet.

“What are you doing, Joey?” Yugi asked him, cocking his head to the side as he watched his friend.

“Hm?” the blond muttered absently. “Oh…” A small grin crept across his face. “Nothing.” Despite further pressing from the smallest member of the group, Joey remained obstinately silent. The other three fell into animated conversation, leaving him to his own devices. And, just before they returned to the school for the start of the afternoon session, the blond smiled to himself, carefully tucking the precious four-leaf clover into his wallet. That had to help him somewhat.

* * *

Joey’s face fell as he stared at the shattered remains of the mirror in the boy’s bathroom. All he had done was wipe the droplets of water from the surface that had splashed there when he’d washed his hands, and the whole thing had disintegrated before his eyes with a loud crash. Fortunately, he hadn’t been cut, but a broken mirror meant _seven_ more years of bad luck. “Fuck!” he shouted in exasperation before hurriedly depositing the paper towels in the garbage and walking stiffly from the lavatory. Red-faced, he returned to class, reaching into his pocket and surreptitiously rubbing the small, purple rabbit’s foot. Today had been a classic Friday the Thirteenth. It couldn’t get worse – could it?

* * *

Joey was immensely grateful for the end of the day. Once he was home and out of the public eye, he could crawl into bed and wait out the remaining eight hours of his horrible day, and start fresh in the morning.

Using the excuse that he wasn’t feeling well, he begged off going over to Yugi’s for the afternoon, and slowly walked home, taking care to jump every crack he saw in the sidewalk. About five blocks from his house, he saw something glittering on the sidewalk. Arching a brow, he slowed his pace to see what it was. “Hot damn! Lucky penny!” he crowed, bending over to pick it up. As soon as he did, he immediately stood up ramrod straight, his cheeks pinking in embarrassment. Hurriedly, he stripped off his uniform jacket and tied the garment around his waist. God damn if he didn’t rip the ass out of his pants bending over. Mortified, and beyond pissed off, the blond power walked the rest of the way home, flinging his backpack into his closet and then irritably stripping off the now-defunct uniform to put on some ratty black track pants. Flopping onto his bed and pulling the duvet over his head, he did a mental calculation. So far, he had tried three things to bring him good luck, and the day had struck back with five – probably more if he could be bothered to count all the petty annoyances of the day.

He dozed off, waking about an hour later to the sound of knocking at his door. He debated ignoring it, but the caller was beyond persistent. After about ten minutes, he finally hauled himself out of bed and went to answer. Scowling petulantly, he flung open the door. “What the fuck do you want – Kaiba? What the hell are you doing here?”

The tall brunet arched a brow and took in the blond’s dishevelled appearance, noting with some amusement that the flaxen tresses were even more disorderly than normal. “Rough day?” he drawled, the faintest hint of a smirk on his lips.

“What the fuck’s it to you? Did you come all the way down here so you could gloat about it? Shit…you need to get a hobby.”

Kaiba’s smirk widened. “No. I came to offer you some assistance.”

Joey’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I saw you with that ridiculous purple clump of mangy fur. What a waste of time. Next time, use this.” Wordlessly, he held out his hand, depositing a small, cool object into the shorter teen’s hand.

Curious, Joey looked down at his palm, arching a brow when he saw it was a small, silver dragon medallion. The beast was curled up around itself, and almost looked like it was asleep. “What’s this for?”

The brunet’s expression morphed into a small smile. “Dragons have often been viewed as the ultimate symbols of good luck. Next time you’re having a bad day, try seeking out a dragon.” With a smug look, the brunet turned and left, giving Joey a nonchalant wave as he headed back to the street.

For several, long moments, Joey simply stood there, staring at the retreating form and at the item in his hand. Kaiba couldn’t mean… 

A small grin worked its way across Joey’s face. Perhaps this day hadn’t turned out so terrible after all.


End file.
